Working Title: A Pawn of the Gods
by alone on the water
Summary: Sorry, this is just a temporary place-holder while I do some revamping on the whole thing. Please don't report. Revised Chapter 1 is coming soon.


4

Chapter 1

I really should have looked both ways before crossing the street.

The shock was numbing, like an extra-resilient soap bubble that was somehow big enough to engulf my whole body and block out the rest of the world, leaving me alone in a companionable silence with nothing but the tiny thumps of my erratic heartbeats. For a brief moment, it almost felt like I was back in the comforts of my room, if it were not for the immense pain that suddenly shot out as the back of my head collided violently against the hard, unforgiving ground.

_Pain, so much pain…_

Blinking forcefully to rid myself of the reddening haze at the edges of my vision, I slowly reached up to shield my face from the random rain drops that were starting to fall from the pale grey sky, and grimaced as my body protested vehemently the slight movement. Winter had obviously decided to come early for the year, and the exceptionally biting November wind was only speeding up the process of me sinking into delirium, yet I couldn't help but grin foolishly at the odd warmth of asphalt under the small of my back.

The next thing that successfully rebooted was, unfortunately, hearing. A maddening collection of sounds washed over my senses like a rogue wave, effectively bringing the last fateful moments back into my mind and locking it on a never-ending replay: several hastened, curse-ridden texts to my assignment partner who bailed out of our arrangement at the very last minute; a panicked shout of my name accompanied by the sharp squeal of tires; and the horrible crunch of my abdomen meeting metal…

Dimly, I registered someone dropping to a kneeling position beside me, fear and indecision lacing her voice as her stormy eyes swiftly darted all over me. "Medium concussion, no big deal, bruised spine, broken left arm and two lower ribs, nothing a few stiches can't fix, roughly two pints of blood loss with large metallic intrusion in the stomach…"

I interrupted with a groan, "Wha… who?"

The girl tucked a strand of her golden blonde hair behind her ears, wiped a drop of sweat from her naturally-tanned and turned to me with a smile that felt so familiar yet so foreign at the same time, "Stay still. The metal frame of the car door got you pretty bad. But you are safe now. You're going to be okay, do you hear me? Help is on its way…" She mumbled softly, although it sounded like she was reassuring herself more than me, "Thank the gods you are still alive-no what are you doing? Don't give in now." She patted me on the cheek, spared a glance at her watch, and cursed in a foreign language, "Hey, hey, look at me, I need you to breathe deeply and focus on me right here, you remember who I am, right?"

"I don't…" I slurred, a queasy sensation gripping my throat when my pupils focused on a shard of glass lying inches away from my face, and barely suppressed a shudder. "What _blood_…"

A look of disappointment flashed across her eyes, but she quickly shook it away and opened her lunch bag, procuring a square of something and quickly shoving it down my throat before curtly answering my questioning gaze: "It is just ambrosia. Something to help with the pain."

Swallowing obediently, I was about to ask how a freaking piece of tiramisu with a fancy name had anything to do with a car accident when a warm feeling emanated from the pit of my stomach and steadily spread to all the extremities of my body, a coziness that could only be compared to napping beside a fireplace on a snowy winter day, so I closed my eyes in relaxation and greedily drank in the comfort, allowing myself a small smile at the new energy that was coursing through my veins.

_Oh right, this is Annabeth, how could I ever forget that, _a vague thought danced across my mind, and just like that, everything suddenly made sense._ No, this can't be happening. A car accident? Who am I kidding? I can't be here. I finally found my happy ending and it can't just end like this. It's not fair… _

Merely three short months have passed since the Chase family signed the adoption papers, but I was already heartily accepted and loved as one of their own. The small bedroom they assigned to me certainly wasn't the best in the world, but it certainly beats the various foster homes I have had "the honor" to live in. Their only daughter, Annabeth Chase, an athletic Californian teenager who never seemed to get along well with her brothers for one reason or another, had almost immediately taken a liking to me, in a way that is only possible between twelve-year-old schoolgirls. _And I'm not talking about cuddling on the couch and watching "My Little Pony" all day._ At school, she took it upon herself to act as my personal guardian, insisting on helping me with everything from solving math problems to carrying a particularly heavy backpack; at home, she made it her personal duty to care for me, always being the first to show up at my side when I scream myself awake from a series of nightmares; and during the holidays, she would pester her parents to take the family on vacation to different parts of the country, although it still quite bothers me whenever I catch her shooting meaningful looks at me every now and then, as if she was expect me to have some sort of flipping-the-table reaction.

"Annabeth?" I wheezed through the now drizzling rain, bit back a scream of pain when my ribs snapped back into place, and found myself staring at the rapidly healing cuts and scrapes with a sickly fascination. "What the hell just happened…?" My voice dropped to a mutter.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Annabeth's voice was equally quiet, "Yeah, I agree. Even with the Ambrosia, wounds are not supposed to heal that quickly."

"Well this piece of metal is still stuck inside me," I quipped lightly, "so I'm not quite out of the hospital just yet."

"Oh shut up, you." She playfully responded with a poke to my nose, "Like I said, help is on its way, while they should have been here TEN MINUTES AGO." Her voice rose to a shout, startling the spectating crowd. Standing up, she stalked over to a middle-aged pickup truck driver a few meters away (obviously the guy responsible for running me over judging by the shocked look on his face), spat out a few choice words about what an imbecile he was for driving over the speed limit, and inconspicuously snapped her fingers behind her back. The sound that followed was sharp and loud. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt a gust of wind ripple out from her hand, across the whole scene of the accident. It washed over all of us, making the tree leaves rustle on both sides of the street.

"What happened here? Does she need help?" Someone piped up.

"No, we are just trying something out our friend's Halloween party. She always celebrates it a few weeks later than usual, mind you, but it is a whole-day celebration you don't want to miss." Annabeth offered a sheepish smile. "And we will be right on our way." She gave a small wave and offered her hand to help me stand up, tilting her head towards me in concern "Sorry for the commotion guys, we didn't mean to cause any trouble."

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We both piled into a small SUV after its driver took pity on us and offered us a ride, but Annabeth quickly tazed him and took over the wheel after we were well out of the public sight.

"Please tell me you got something?" I pleaded, groaning as I shifting the gauze to keep a better pressure on the still seeping puncture wound. "Why can't we just go to a hospital? This is just a piece of metal, not some alien technology."

"Just trust me alright, I'm taking you somewhere safe." She replied simply, "You are too special, Chiron wants to meet you in person."

"What, 'special', like you?" I gestured wildly, willing her to understand, "With all the OMG-look-at-me-I-can-control-people's-minds? No, thank you very much, I am a perfectly normal human being, I definitely DO NOT have any superpowers, so please leave me alone. I don't want to be experimented on."

"Nobody is experimenting on you." Annabeth answered, amusement in her voice.

"Then what is the deal with all of this, freak?" I shot back, getting angrier by the second, "Underage driving and carrying really illegal weapons? Who is this Chiron person?"

"I am not a freak!" Annabeth responded, immediately angry as well. "The correct term is 'demigods', you ignorant seaweed brain."

"Did you just make that word up, Annabeth?" I interrupted, unamused.

Dodging the question, Annabeth asked instead: "Do you believe in gods, Katniss?"

"Gods?" I returned blankly, finally quieting down.

"Yes, gods. Immortal beings with spheres of influence in the natural world and the ability to manipulate them as they wish."

"You mean like the ones we studied in those ancient history myths?"

"EXACTLY like the ones we studied in History class, Katniss. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades. Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares. The gods of Olympus. They are real. All of them." She answered, looking straight into my eyes.

"What?" I shook my head incredulously, "Annabeth, I realize we just watched 'Clash of the Titans' and 'Wrath of the titans' in our movie marathon last night but that doesn't mean…"

"They're all real, Katniss." She insisted, "And on occasion, they still come down to earth to… produce their offspring." She glanced at the unconscious body in the back seat and scratched her head, "And you are one of such children. Demigods. Just like me."

"And all the monster _things_… are they real too?"

"Well… unfortunately yes." She hesitated before continuing, "Remember all those times you felt that someone were following you and watching you from the shadows but nobody else could see them? The snake that crawled into your covers that night? Or… gods forbid, the huge spider that dropped out from your vents? _That last one was meant for me, but it seemed to have gotten lost… so sorry about that by the way_." She paused, "But my point still stands. Those three teachers who were so suddenly 'taken' by ill-fate, even when the class swore that the 'replacements' had been there all along? Monsters, all of them. Big bad or small bad it doesn't matter, all of them had their own plans to kill you. You have no idea how hard it was to keep you alive." She sighed in content, "Monsters live to kill demigods, which is why there is a specific safe haven for us young demigods, called Camp Half Blood. The borders are enchanted, so outsiders can get in without special permission. And since you have already discovered who you are-" she trailed off, staring intently at the road ahead, eyes wide in fear.

"Great. Fantastic. I was having such a nice day of being told that my whole life is a lie, and now there is this bull-man who seems oh _so friendly_ who also happens to be standing in our way." I commented sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

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I rummaged through the glove compartment, and sat back with a frustrated growl when my quest for a weapon yielded nothing more than a letter opener. Outside, the drizzle had turned into a downpour, but that did not stop the bull-man from stomping his way closer and closer to our vehicle, with each step resonating in our bones like a mild-earthquake. The whole situation was so eerily similar to Jurassic Park that I was starting to hyperventilate, but Annabeth didn't seem too bothered.

"Take this, and stay in the car." she commanded, tossing me a golden ball point pen, "Stick them with the pointy end."

"But it's a pen, what am I supposed to do with…" My protests fell on deaf ears when Annabeth exited the car, pulled out a baseball cap from her pockets, and _disappeared_. "…this." I finished lamely.


End file.
